


When I hold you close, I'm where I belong

by IncorrectValk



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: F/F, Im bad at this, Lots of OC - Freeform, is gay, lol, mainly a au sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:47:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23437171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncorrectValk/pseuds/IncorrectValk
Summary: The couple goes to Kody's house for Christmas, Kody finally takes the world off her shoulders and they just gayI'm bad at descriptions sorry.
Relationships: Kody "Kingdom" Ammerati/Elena "Mira" María Álvarez, Kody Ammerati/Elena María Álvarez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	When I hold you close, I'm where I belong

**Author's Note:**

> Sup fellow people, It's Cai with the massive fic!! I hope you guys enjoy cause I had a great time writing this. The title is from the song, Belong by X ambassadors. 
> 
> This fic is big ole shout out my girl Noodle, love you!! Laura, for being awesome and amazing, Liam for being my numba one boy!! 
> 
> Okay bye!!!

“What’s making you nervous ?” Elena asks, placing her hand on Kody’s knee, stopping it from bouncing. “Is it a plane ride or me meeting your family?”

“Just my family in general.”

“I’m sure they’ll like me, I'm amazing.”

“Calm your ego babe.” Kody chuckles, putting her arm around her girlfriend’s seat. “I'm just worried that they might overwhelm you and such.” 

“If I can handle you for the last year or so, I’m sure I can handle your family” 

“Yeah sure, except there are five other versions of me with their own mini-mes and my mom, who will bug the shit outta you until she gets what she wants, which is your entire life story.” 

“Then she can have it, as long as you’re there with me to keep me from getting eaten alive by the Italian inquisition then it’s worth it.” 

“I just know how private you are about your life.” she sighs, tucking a strain of her hair behind her ear. “It took me months to learn anything about your past.”

“My past is not what defines me. The only thing that matters is how I view myself, no one else.” 

“I know that and it's one of the things I love the most about you,” Kody acknowledged, kissing her girlfriend's hand. “I just don’t want my family to judge you… deem you unworthy.”

“Kody.”

“The last woman I brought home, my father immediately accused her of being a gold digger.”

Elena laughs “Gold digger? Are you telling me that you are insanely rich?”

Kody says nothing to that, looking down at her carry on bag.

“Kody, are you a rich kid?” When she gets no response, it’s like everything comes together and explains itself. “Wow.” 

“Elena…”

She stands up and walks away “I’ll be back. I’m going to get a coffee or something. And no! I’ll pay for it.”

“Elena come on!”

She ignored Kody, getting lost into the crowd of people, her phone immediately buzzing with texts from her girlfriend. With a sigh, she pulled it out to glance at the texts.

K:  _ Are you seriously reacting like this???  _

K:  _ Elena, come on. I’ve seen how everyone looks at fucking Kali. I didn’t need that in my life again. _

K:  _ Just… don’t be long okay? We board soon… _

Elena:  _ I won’t.  _

She slides the phone back into her pocket and walks into the Starbucks to order a black coffee. She’s not sure exactly why she’s upset at this new information, perhaps it was jealousy? Or was it anger for not being trusted with the secret?

She finds herself back near the seating area, her girlfriend hunched over, head in her hands, leg bouncing, a clear look of anguish on her face. How could she even pretend to be mad at her? Kody was the kindest person she knew, the warmest and the most selfless. She somehow got her and Eliza to make up and be friends. She couldn’t even be mad at her. 

Elena finished her coffee and tossed it into the trash before returning to her girlfriend, put her arms around her waist in an awkward hug, her chin resting on Kody’s neck. “I’m sorry for reacting like that. It was stupid.”

“I’m sorry for not trusting you enough to tell you this stupid secret…” Kody whispers, leaning into Elena. 

“No need to be emotional love.”

They sit like this for a few moments until they’re plane announces that they could board. Elena pulls back so Kody could sit up then leans in to give her a quick kiss before grabbing her bag and pulling Kody to her feet. “Let’s go die for Eight hours?”

Kody laughs softly, taking Elena’s hand in her own. “As long as it's with you then I don’t mind dying.”

~~~~

After what seemed like an eternity of a flight, they touched down in Toronto. Kody was still half asleep as they gathered their luggage and made their way to the exit gate, where immediately Kody groans. “Why did they come?” 

Elena’s eyes traced the crowd to find two tall men, holding a sign with their names. They had giant grins on their faces and began to wave. “You’re brothers?”

“Mhmm.”

“Exciting!”

“They’re the worst.”

“Which ones are they?”

“Enzio and Luciano.”

Elena smiles. “The oldest and the youngest?” With a nod from her girlfriend, she waves at them, grabs Kody’s hand and picks up the pace, knowing full well that this was torture for Kody. “Kody’s brothers!” 

The boy's smile, the same smile that made Elena melt all those months ago. “ELENA!” They say before individuality hugging her. “Finally good to meet you!”

“Likewise.” She says, “Which is which, sorry.”

“I’m Luciano.” The shorter one says, he had shaggy brown hair with a freshly shaved face. His eyes seemed to shine, Elena noted. “The youngest and best brother.”

“He only says he is the best because he was spoiled.” The other one says, “I’m Enzio.”

“Pleasure.” Elena takes a better look at the eldest, he was a foot taller than everyone, short black hair, and beard reminds her of Ryad. He looked nothing like Kody or Luciano but could sense the safety and strength in his stance, much like Kody. 

“He looks the most like his father,” Kody says, almost like reading Elena’s mind. “They joke that the printer ink ran out on me and Luci.” Elena chuckles at Kody’s tired voice, who looks super annoyed. “Why are you guys even here anyway? 

“Can’t too brother come to greet their sister who they haven’t seen in months!?” Luciano claims, a fake look of sadness.

“Not at two am, no.”

“Oh shut up and let's go,” Luciano says, taking Elena’s Luggage. “Gotta get you home so you can get some beauty sleep so you can deal with cheery morning mom.” 

“She’s still got her routine?”

“Why of course, you think she’d just abandon it?”

“Well, obviously not.” Kody agreed, “Just maybe thought she’d tone it down with everyone out of the house.”

Enzio chuckles, “She’ll come to stay at my house just to do it to my kids, I swear she does it on purpose.”

“As someone who knows nothing” Elena interjects, “What is this routine?”

“Wakes up at five am, starts cooking a very big breakfast, then at six-thirty, walks into everyone’s room, singing before opening the curtains and waking you up,” Kodys explains grumpily. “But it won’t bother you much since you’ll wake up at five with her.”

“How’d you end up with a morning person polpetta?” 

“Stop calling me that Enzio.”

“No.”

“Whatever.”

Luciano chuckles at her expression. “Let go, we have a long way home, yes?”

~~~

Kody wakes with a start as her brother taps her leg. Rubbing her eyes carefully so she doesn’t wake up her girlfriend, she looks at Luciano in the passenger seat. “What up?”

“We’ll be home in ten minutes or so.” He whispers, looking over at Elena who was snuggled up to Kody’s side, fast asleep. “Should you wake her?”

“No. If she doesn't wake up by the time we get home, I'll just carry her to our room.”

“Our?”

“Shut up.” She grumbles, He looks over to Elena once more before giving his sister a soft smile. “I’m happy for you sis.”

Kody hums softly to his response, leaning her head to rest atop Elena's, watching the lights pass by on the open streets. She can hear the soft chatter of the young adults roaming the streets in her hometown, the sloshing of snow underneath tires. “I almost forgot what home sounded like.”

“Can’t blame you on that,” Enzio says. “You’re always out and about, hearing what other people's worlds sound like at the wee hours of the day.”

“They never sounded like this… Like I belonged there.”

“Because you didn’t.” Luciano says, “You belong here but you’re not ready to come home yet. You’re still trying to find your worth.”

“I guess.”

“We're almost home, Kody. Don’t think so much about life until after a few days here okay?” Enzio says, his words comforting in his big brother ways. 

Kody looks down at Elena and smiles. Her brother may not be wrong about finding her worth but she definitely found her will. 

After five more minutes, the car pulls up into the long driveway of their childhood home. Kody could already imagine Elena’s face when she realizes how big the house and property is but also a bit scared that she’ll react like she did at the airport. When Enzio turns off the engine Kody carefully sits Elena up, letting her lean up against the other door. 

“Do you wanna grab the luggage?”

“No, I'll grab it in the morning,” Kody says, stepping outside and stretching. “It still looks the same.”

“Of course it does.”

“It’s been so long.”

“Come home more often then.” A voice calls out. 

“You’re here too?” Kody half whines before turning to see her brother Moore sitting on the steps. 

“The whole family is here.” He says, scratching his cheek. “Did these fools not say anything?”

The almost silent ‘Whoops’ from Luciano answers the question for Moore, who laughs. “Don’t worry, everyone will love this woman of yours… though I do not see her.”

“She’s sleeping,” Kody says, moving to the other side of the car, opening the door and picking Elena up, bridal style. “Can you get the door, Luci?”

Kody walks towards the house, Elena sleeping comfortably against her chest. 

“Need help?”

“No thank you, Moore,” She says, “Though I would appreciate it if you opened the door.”

“That would fall under needing help,” Luciano says behind her, holding back a yawn. “Shut up Luci, I swear to god.”

The three brothers just grin at each other as they watch their sister carry her girlfriend into the house. “Welcome home piccolo,” Moore whispers to himself. 

Kody gently lowers Elena into her bed and tossed the covers over her, tracing her fingers down the silk sheets. Her mother must have washed them recently because she could smell the vanilla detergent that she uses, making her smile.

It had only begun to really hit Kody when she walked into the connected bathroom and looked into the mirror. She missed being home. She missed her brothers and her mother. She missed the familiar scents. Hell, she even missed the heated floors in her bathroom. She misses being a kid with no worries in the world. 

With a heavy sigh, she shuts off the bathroom light and walks back to the bed, crawling beside Elena, who immediately clings to Kody’s body, trying to get closer if possible. It doesn’t take her long before she falls asleep to the sound of her girlfriend's soft breathing. 

~~~~

When Elena wakes up, it's a too soft humming coming from outside of the room. She carefully pulls herself away from her girlfriend's embrace, regretting leaving the warmth almost immediately. Taking a moment to take in how cute Kody looks in the sunlight, she enters the bathroom, almost jumping at the warmth her bare feet come in contact with. Heated floors, of course, she thinks. 

When she finishes in the bathroom and opens the door, she spots that the bedroom door has been opened, though Kody was still curled into the sheets. Her mother, she thinks. The smell of pancakes and bacon catches Elena’s attention. Surely Kody won’t mind if she met the family alone. 

She enters the hallway and stops, trying to ignore the surprise at how big the hallway was. “This is a fucking mansion isn’t it?” She says aloud, thinking she was alone. 

“Sure is.”

Elena jumps slightly at the voice, turning to the owner of the voice. A petite Japanese woman smiles at her. She’s holding a baby in her one arm as she is trying to calm a toddler from a potential freakout. “Hi.”

“Hello.” She says, “I’m Katsu, Achiello’s wife.”

“And which one is that again?”

Katsu laughs at it. “The Third one.”

Elena watches as the toddler tugs hard on her mother's arm, pulling Katsu off balance which makes her grip on the baby loosen, Elena jumps into action and catches the baby quickly and softly so that the child stays asleep.

“Holy shit.” She says watching Katsu, stare in shock before snapping back into reality and turning to the toddler. “Akari! How many times have I told you not to do that when I'm holding your sister!” The toddler, Akari, stares up at her mother, no idea what her mother is talking about, sucking her fingers as she holds her mother's hand. Katsu sighs, looking back over to Elena. “Nice catch though, You reacted quickly.”

“Well, it is my job to react quickly so it was nothing really.” Elena holds the baby, gently rocking back and forth as Akari grabs at her mom’s atm, “UP!” 

“I can carry her downstairs if you want to pick up Akari and bring her downstairs,” Elena suggested, Katsu shared a look of gratitude, picking up her daughter and started moving towards the stairs. “How old are your kids?”

“Akari is three, Minato is about four, five months.”

Elena hummed in response. “They’re going to be quite the handful in a couple of years, with all the fighting and such.”

“They sure are. I hope they’re not like Achiello when he was younger.” She laughs, “Rumor has it he never went a day with being in a fight.”

Elena followed her down the stairs and towards the smell of what Elena could imagine, heaven.

“How do you not get lost here?”

“Who’s to say I don’t?” she joked “I simply just memorized my way to the kitchen when I was sixteen.”

“Sixteen huh? You’ve stuck around for twenty years huh?” Elena wondered, to which she shrugged.

“I knew Achiello was the one the minute he ate shit after slipping on the ice trying to ask me out in the winter.” Katsu raved. “Broke his nose, blood dripping down his chin but he still asked me out. He had the goofiest smile on his face and no god damn worries about what other people thought about him.”

“Now that is a good story to share with your kid in the future.”

Katsu smiled “It is, isn't it. What about you? How’d you know Kody was the one?”

“Well, without making it too long of a story and too descriptive… A few weeks before we even got together, after a mission that went kind of sour, She came down to the workshop on base, brought me a coffee, somehow knowing how I like it, looked me in the eyes and just smiled, saying ‘It’s okay.’. It’s nothing glamorous like yours but… it was calming, I suppose.”

“Don’t doubt yourself, Elena. That was a good one.” Katsu assured. “From what I know from what I've heard about both of you, Kody is your point of calmness in a storm of chaos while you're her sense of home. Perfectly perfect.”

Elena stops, staring after her as she disappears around the corner into the kitchen. The baby, waking softly, playing at her hair. “Your mom really knows how to stun someone, hey little guy?” The baby coos and continues to tug softly at her hair. 

Elena didn’t really know what to expect when she entered the kitchen, the minute she learned that Kody was rich, all her expectations went out the window. So when she saw how big the kitchen was, it was merely a light slap on the cheek. It was almost the size of the cafeteria at the base. It seemed everyone was awake around the table, all except for one, who was still at the stove. The mother. 

One of the brothers stood up and walked towards Elena. “Hope Minato here isn’t bugging you too much.” 

“Ah no, not at all.” She says, letting him take the baby. “You look familiar.”

“He looks the most like Kody,” Luciano says, in between swallows of his drink.

“No, that's not from where I am thinking,” Elena says. “You play basketball?”

“Sure do.” He smiles. “I play with the Raptors.”

Elena just stares at him in silence. 

“Is the silence from surprise or disappointment.”

“Both.”

Luciano lets out a big laugh, making Achiello grin before moving in to give Elena a quick hug. “Welcome to the family Elena.”

“Sit down, do not smother her!” a voice says, she turns to look at the woman by the stove. 

“Sure mother, I’ll let you do it,” Achiello says, instantly backing away, scared at the reaction from his mother. It made Elena smile.

“Mrs. Ammerati, it’s good to finally meet you,” Elena says, holding out her hand out to the woman. 

“No.”

“No?”

“Call me Marina. Or Mom.” She says, before pulling Elena into a hug, “Never Mrs. Ammerati.”

“Okay… Marina.” Elena says softly, moving back from the hug. 

“Kody still sleeping? Lazy kid.” Marina mumbles, tracing her hands through her hair. Elena can’t help but notice how good she looks. She still looks like she's in her late Thirties. 

What even is the Ammerati DNA?

“Take a seat if you wish dear, breakfast will be done soon.” 

With a nod, she moves towards the table and takes a seat next to a woman with bright red hair, who smiles warmly at her. “I’m Robin, Dario’s wife.”

“Which one is that?”

“The one surrounded by the kids.” She replies, sipping on her orange juice. “The handsome doctor.”

“Ah, The one that doesn't get along well with Kody.”

“There's gotta be a family feud somewhere.” Robin agrees, “He wants her to find a better career, to be safe. Kody doesn’t want a boring life. Blah blah blah.”

“And you?” Elena asks “Am I to hate you?”

“Nah, me and Kody are fine. What's going on between them is none of my business.” She confessed. “It’s not my job to fix their relationship.” 

Elena hummed in response, watching as the woman of the room moved around, taking seats around her. “Is this a cult that I’m joining?”

Katsu laughs softly, sitting to her left. “No, I promise.”

“I’m Tika by the way.” The dark-skinned woman says from across the table, her hand lightly on her stomach. “Luciano’s fiancee”

“Oh, I've heard about you.” Elena smiles, “Congrats on the engagement.” 

“Why thank you.” She grins.

Elena looks to the left of Tika, “You’re Amber right?”

“Sure am.” 

“And the only one I’m missing is…”

“Meghan,” Robin confirms. “She’s a doctor like Dario. She’s on shift.”

“Oh, well I can’t wait to meet her.”

“She’s amazing. A bundle of joy.” 

Elena can’t quite tell if it was said out of sarcasm or if it was an honest opinion but it makes her laugh. 

“I understand that. The Meghan I work with is a real special bundle of joy.”

“Oh, Castellano!” Amber says, “I love her.”

“You guys know her?”

“Yea, met her a few years back when she dated Kody.”

Elena sat still, mouth slightly open. “They… dated?”

“Amber....” Tika sighs, 

“From what I remember it wasn’t that serious.” She says, trying to fix the situation. 

One of the brothers walks up from behind Dario, Elena assumes. “Who Meghan?” 

Katsu shoots him a look, which just seemed to encourage him. “It was serious Amber, Chick was head over heels for Kodes, she just couldn’t handle the fact the Kody is a brick fucking wall with feelings.”

“Oh.” Was all Elena could muster up, before looking down at her hands. 

“Dario, you are a fucking idiot.” Robin spits.

“What did I do?” He questions before reading the faces at the table. “Oh. Well, it’s not my fucking job to know what Kody says.”

“That’s why you keep your mouth shut.” Robin snaps, she turns to Elena, playing a hand on her knee. “Don’t listen to Dario, we don’t know anything about what happened there. I’m sorry that you heard it from us.”

“It’s fine,” Elena says, trying to hide the bit of confusion in her voice. “I just… Need a minute alone.”

She stands up and begins to walk out of the kitchen just as Kody walks in. “Hey, babe.”

Elena brushes past her, saying nothing. As she walks down the hall she can hear Kody angrily saying “ _ What the fuck did you guys say? _ ” 

She picks up her pace, wandering around the house, no direction, in particular, the news of Kody and Meghan circling around in her head. She loses herself in though, she doesn’t notice herself walking straight into Enzio. 

“There you are.” He says softly. “Lost?”

“Of course I am,” Elena admits. “I know where anything is.” 

“Let's go to the library.”

“Sure.”

Elena follows Enzio into the room, he quietly closes the door. “Honestly Kody should be the one here but… she’s in her own hole now.”

“What?”

“She tackled Dario, kicked his ass.” Enzio laughs. “She’s got a new fire inside of her. I love it.”

“I didn’t mean for a fight to happen,” Elena grumbles, putting her face in her hand.

“It’s fine. Dario needed the swift kick in the head. He likes to act like he knows everything because he’s a doctor.” Enzio says, sitting down on the couch, motioning for her to join him. “I can’t control what you think or how you feel. Can’t control what happens from here, but as the eldest brother I feel that I am obliged to fix everything to make sure my little sister has the best life.”

“You’re a good brother Enzio.”

“I wish that was true.” He says sadly. “I’ve never tried to keep close with Kody. She was distant, even as a child. Kept to herself. Read too many books, taking apart anything she could. She liked her solitude so I gave it to her.”

“Sounds about right… though I'm not sure why you’re telling this.”

“I’m not sure either. But Dario was right, Kody is hard to deal with feelings. Though it does seem that with you, she's quite an open book… Which makes me want to make sure that nothing bad happens here.”

“Then tell me about Meghan.”

“They dated maybe… six, seven years ago.” He starts “There was an incident on Kody’s first tour. From what I remember her telling us, an explosion knocked her back off a bridge and disappeared with the current of water. She wandered around the desert for a few hours or days. Meghan found her dehydrated, laying inches from the ocean. Kody got attached out of delirium and Meghan fell for her. They dated for a year or so.”

“That’s a lot to take in.” Elena admits, staring at Enzio., “Why’d they break up.”

“Don’t know. She showed up one day at the house, talked to Kody in her room, then left, clearly holding back tears. Kody never talked about it.”

“She broke up with me because we grew apart…” Kody says entering the room. “But I suspected after a while of joining rainbow… that it was because she joined rainbow. When she joined… the fight with the white masks was rough. I never… I don’t have the courage to ask her.”

“Why did you never say anything about it?”

“Probably the same reason you never told me about you and Eliza.”

The comment stuns Elena for a moment. “I guess you’re right.”

“Me and Meghan… when we dated it was amazing and when she broke up with me, I was devastated. I hated the world and everyone around me. I pushed everyone away, put my walls up and ignored pain. For a while anyway.”

“Kody… dare I say, you talk about Jade?”

She rubs her forehead with a heavy sigh. “Yeah…” She walks over to a shelf and pulls something out, bringing it over to Elena. “This is Jade. My ex-fiance.”

Elena looked at Kody, taking note of the sadness in her eyes and voice. “Ex?”

“Remember two months after Operation Twilight Raven when you asked me why I was so angry at myself after I couldn't save the woman… and all I could say was  _ ‘I’m here in this situation again, so good but not good enough’ _ ?”

“Yes… It hurt to see you in that pain.”

“Jade died in a similar way as the woman. A worse way.”

“How worse?”

“We were in a helicopter, retreating from the area. A projectile nicked the bottom of us, it was enough to force to knock everyone off balance. One of our squadmates knocked her down with his weight when he was trying to catch himself. She slid down the hatch, managed to grab something… but it was an old rope or something. It was ripping and I wasn’t fast enough to pull her up. The rope was inches from snapping. We both knew it was happening.”

“Kody…” Elena stood up, taking her girlfriend's head in her hands. Kody was seconds from breaking. 

“I can still hear her just saying ‘ _ It’s Okay _ ’ over and over again… just before the rope snaps and she disappears forever. So when I missed the woman’s hand and she fell from the building… All I could see was Jade…”

“Kody…” Elena hugs her tightly, knowing full well it was enough to crush the air from Kody’s body, she didn’t care. “I’m sorry.”

“I should’ve told you everything, Elena… I’m just an idiot.”

“My idiot.” Kissing Kody’s cheeks, “I love you Kody.” Kody looks down at her girlfriend, gratefully. “You are so strong... “

“So strong that everyone forgets that she is in pain,” Enzio added. “You two are good for each other…”

Kody stares at her brother for a moment before going to hug him. “I love you Enzio.”

“I love you too little one.” He says, “I’m going to return to the party, join back when you are ready.”

Enzio excuses himself and leaves the room, leaving Elena and Kody alone in the silence of the library. 

“Your sisters-in-law seem nice,” Elena says, trying to lighten the mood. 

“They’re the closest thing I have for sisters… so I have to take them for what they are.”

“They seem pretty cool.” 

“They’re alright. Annoying, like the rest of them.”

Elena chuckles, softly kissing Kody. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

~~~

Kody watched from a distance as her mother grilled questions out of her girlfriend. Her heel lightly tapping the floor.

“Your mother means well.”

“I know father.” she agrees “I just don’t want her to push too far. She’s done it before.”

Roberto laughed, taking a puff from his cigar. “If this Elena loves you, she can take some heat from her potential in-laws, no?” When his question gets no response, he taps his daughter on the leg. “We have 5 sons with ten grandchildren… but we have one daughter who also happens to like women. We want to make sure that you are going to be treated right, and be respected.”

“Padre…”

“Don’t you father me, you are my little girl and you deserve the entire world. No the entire galaxy.” Kody blushes read at her father's words. “You have every right to turn you're back on the world and tell it to go fuck itself after Jade but you continued to put yourself out there and now you’ve found this one gem who looks at you like you’re the only one in the room even with two old farts, ten stressed out adults and ten ravage kids running around and screaming are in the room.”

“You think so?”

“I do not think, I know. It’s the same way your nono looked at your nona.” He says staring his daughter in the eyes, “Elena seems like the kind of woman to walk through fire for you like she’d tear down an entire city for you. Never second guess your feelings with her. And when you realize that, you realize that you want forever with her, I will be spoiling the shit out of you.”

Kody smiles softly at her father, realizing this is the first time they’ve ever spoken anything so personal in years. In those years he has calmed from his distaste of her liking women, or particularly the type of women she liked. “Thank you, dad.”

He grunted before he turned his attention back to the soccer game on the television. “Besides, she’d make a good store owner.”

“Father.”

“I’m only joking, Kodiak.”

Kody rolled her eyes at the use of her full name before standing up and walking towards Elena and her mother. Wrapping her arms around her girlfriend's waist and pulling her up against herself. Kissing Elena’s neck, making her push back into the embrace. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Why don’t you two kids go find something to do?” Marina says, returning her attention to cleaning the dishes from the morning's feast. 

“That I would like,” Kody admits, taking Elena’s hand and pulling her out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the stairs. 

“Kody, what are you planning?”

“I’m not planning anything. I just want some alone time with my girl, is that so bad?”

Elena says nothing, letting Kody pull her up the steps toward their bedroom. Kody had pulled the blinds shut again after they had been opened by her mother earlier in the mornings so when she closed the bedroom door, the two of them were left in the dim darkness. 

“Kody.”

“Elena.”

Elena moved her hand to rest on Kody’s hip, staring at Kody in the dim light, forcing itself through the tightly closed blinds. Her thigh braced against Kody’s, her face had moved closer to her own, she could feel the heat of her breath on her cheek. Elena’s eyes flickered to her girlfriend's lips, they were trembling, looking back into her eyes, seeing that they were smoldering and full of desire, making Elena’s stomach fill with that butterfly feeling. 

The next thing she knew, Kody’s lips were on her own. They came together hard and passionately. Kody taking full control of it, moving exquisitely against her own, making Elena stumble back a bit, Kody was quick to wrap an arm around her lower back. Kody stared down at her, a smirk appearing on her lips. Rolling her eyes, she pulled at Kody’s hips and dragged her back into the embrace, heat rushing through her body as teeth nipped lightly at her lips. 

“Elena, you make me feel so wild inside” Kody whispered, “But I suspect you already knew that, don’t you?” Elena hummed softly, pulling at Kody’s shirt, kissing her softer, more tentative than before. “I love you so much, Elena.”

“As do I, Kody…”

Elena wrapped her arms around Kody’s body, trying to pull her closer than possible, their bodies crushed together and Elena fell into the kiss completely, moaning when her girlfriend's tongue met her mouth with the gentlest kinds of touches, making her want more. Eliza had never kissed her like this.

Finally, Kody lifted her up and moved towards the desk that sat in the corner of the room, Elena was quick to wrap her thighs around Kody’s hips. They kissed for a long time that they both forgot to take a breath, Kody rested her forehead against Elena’s as they caught their breaths, smiling at each other.

“New plan,” Kody says, her voice a husky whisper.

“You had a plan?” a hearty laugh replied, cupping her lover's cheeks. 

“I always have a plan.” 

“Lies.”

Kody picks her up again, bringing her towards the bed and drops her, a grin on her lips. Elena stares up at her, a fake look of hurt. Kody just stared at her for a few seconds, making Elena sit up and play with her belt buckle. 

Kody coming back to reality, pushed her girlfriend back to the bed and laid on top of her, her breasts and muscles pressed against her as she reignited the kiss, making Elena tingle all over. Her hand found Kody’s neck, pulling back from the kiss. “Better plan.”

Kody's eyes widened as she was flipped onto her back with Elena straddling her, a grin tracing her lips. Her fingers tugged at the buttons on Kody’s shirt, making her moan at the contact of skin on her chest. “No bra hey?”

Kody stared at her, not wanting to answer as her girlfriend’s hands moved to her breasts, brushing past her nipples, making her arch into pleasure. Elena brought her mouth down to one of her nipples, licking and sucking, teasing Kody as much as she could. Kody’s fingers found their way into her girlfriend’s hair, gripping at the curls every time Elena would give a soft nibble to her nipples. 

“This isn’t quite fair.” Kody whimpers as Elena pulls back.

“When has it ever been fair?” She replied before pulling her own shirt up and over her head, tossing it across the room.

“You’re so fucking sexy.” Kody quickly unclips Elena’s bra, letting it fall to the side to quickly take one of her breasts into her mouth, teasing the nipple with her teeth and tongue. 

It takes them a few minutes between heated kisses to strip each other of their clothes and lay naked next to one another, their hands both tracing each other’s body. Elena’s hand finds its way down to the center of the heat from Kody, hesitating for a second, staring at her girlfriend who’s own hand meets hers, guiding her. “Please…” 

Licking her lips as her fingers felt the heat, she felts the dampness before she even got to touch there, Elena smirked down at her girl before sliding her fingers inside, making Kody moan a bit too loud, her body went still, waiting for Elena to make the next move. 

She pushed again, past the folds and her girl swollen and ready. Her thumb moved over her clit, simply stroking it making Kody have a spasm of pleasure. Elena, at first, moved with slow and sensual strokes, building a tempo as she began to feel her girlfriend tense around her fingers.

Kody reached up and brought Elena into a heavy kiss, pushing her tongue immediately inside her mouth, her urgency flowing in with it. Elena pushed deeper as Kody rolled her hips against her, Elena moving quick to make sure they were in unison as her lover’s pleasure grew.

Kody dropped her head back against the bed, letting out a cry. Elena smirking to herself before placing her free hand over Kody’s mouth, silencing the cries that Kody made with each deep thrust. The waves of Kody’s orgasm rolled over both of them, Kody reached for the hand to still it, pressing it into it. They’re foreheads meeting as they ride out the last few ripples of the pleasure. 

Elena dropped back onto the bed, turning to look at Kody, watching as she reclaimed her breath, chest rising and falling quickly. When they’re gaze met, Kody smiled softly, “What?”

“I love that I am learning how to tenderly love you.”

Elena could swear she saw Kody’s eyes sparkle as she moved to kiss her again, her passion and desire still controlled the embrace, but there was still something simmering underneath that Elena couldn't place right away. When Kody pulled back from the kiss, her hand softly holding her head, Elena saw the tenderness in her girlfriend’s eyes and it made her heart melt. There hasn’t been this much tenderness before.

“You’re making me too soft Ammerati.”

Kody hummed at the comment as she rained soft kisses down her neck, nipping at her breasts and leaving soft kisses before moving down her stomach and even lower, sending shivers up Elena as Kody’s breath blew across her sex. 

Kody takes in her scent before dropping her head below to meet her curls, licking and nibbling. Just as Elena thought she could no longer take the teasing anymore, Kody slowly slid her tongue into her, pounding sensations, physical and emotional, flowing through her. Grabbing at Kody’s hair as she cried out “Oh yes!”

Kody’s mouth was like honey as she eagerly explored. When her tongue rolled over Elena’s clit, a spasm of pleasure jolted through her. Kody dropped lower, her tongue plunging into her swift but hard strokes making Elena groan, nothing could have prepared her for how good it made her feel. One hand clenching at her lover’s hair, the other clenches at the silk sheets as Kody continued to drive hard inside her. Eventually, Kody added her thumb to the play and rolled over her clit. Everything inside Elena screamed as another rush of pleasure flooded her, her orgasm came hard and fast, exploding throughout her body. Kody took her clit into her mouth, sucking gently until the orgasm faded away. 

When Elena finally opened her eyes, she saw Kody looking at her with the tenderness overflowing out of her eyes, hand tracing random objects on her stomach.

“Good plan…” Elena breathlessly let out. “Very good plan.”

Kody  _ giggles. _

She actually giggles, making Elena’s stomach fill with that butterfly feeling once again. 

“I told you, I have the best plans.”

Elena silently agrees as Kody pulls herself up the bed to take Elena in her arms, who immediately tucks her head into the gape of her lover’s neck, letting herself fall asleep comfortably to Kody's voice as she softly speaks about something she couldn’t make out. 

~~~

Kody simply held Elena for a few minutes as she slept, kissing her on the head before slipping from the bed to jump into the shower quickly. When finished, seeing Elena still asleep, she put on clean clothes and slipped out the room, closing the door behind her. 

She followed the noise of her nieces and nephews, leading towards the old playroom that she used to spend all the time in when she was a kid with her brothers. She leaned against the door frame, watching them play. Enjoying the feeling of innocence that the kids give.

“Auntie Ko!” 

“Hope!” She half shouts, crouching to match the height of her niece as she crashes against her chest. She returns the hug, pulling back as the other kids come towards them. “How are you kiddos?”

They all answer at once, voices fighting each other in tones louder than Kody thought they could reach. She can’t help but grin at the nonsense things that they are saying. The kids tug her into the room and she loses track of how long she’s been there playing with the kids because she hears someone clear their throat, and she turns to see her sister in law Meghan watching with a smile. “Finally realize you're a child?” 

Kody rolls her eyes as she stands up and stretches. “Hello again Meghan.”

“Good to see you Kody.” They meet for a quick hug. “No injuries this time?”

“Surprisingly no.” She laughs “How was your shift today, nothing too stressful?”

Meghan shrugs and turns to walk down the hall, Kody following behind her. “It was to be as expected in the holiday season. People doing stupid crap. Not following road safety or falling off their roof. Not too drastic though.”

“Ah, that's good.”

“I heard from Moore that you’re looking at becoming a psychologist?”

“I’ve taken some classes back in London. Nothing too serious.” Kody admits, “My co-worker more the less pushed me into it. He believes I'm good with the type of people we work with and I'd be able to help. It gives me something to do during our quiet periods. I enjoy it.”

“Well, I agree with your coworker.”

“Thanks?”

Meghan shakes her head with a smile. “If you want, sometime during this break of yours, you can come by the hospital, shadow one of our Psychologists?”

“I’d like that,” Kody admits, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. “I’m going to check on Elena. I’ll see you in a bit?”

Meghan nods her head and continues to walk down the hall towards Moore’s room. Kody more the less bounces up the stairs towards the room, eyes flicking to the clock on the wall, Eight thirteen. Almost five hours have passed as she opens the door, Elena still asleep, cuddling a pillow, the softest look on her face, making Kody’s insides melt.

She closes the door and climbs back into bed, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. Elena immediately turns into the embrace, tucking her head under Kody’s chin. Mumbling something that Kody couldn’t hear but was enough to make her stomach flip and grin like a child. God, she loved this woman.

~~~

**Two days later…**

“So you’re talking my girlfriend out and I'm not allowed to come?” Luciano nods, zipping up his jacket. “You are forcing me to stay home by myself?”

“You’ll have Tika.”

“But Elena…”

“She’ll be fine! Trust us! We’re going to bond.”

“I don’t trust you and you’re bonding techniques.” Luciano opens the front door, flips his sister the bird real quick and closes the door behind him.

Kody stands in place for a moment watching the snow as it falls heavily and all over the place, a real snowstorm. Eventually turning to walk down the hall back towards the tv room, finding Tika wrapped in a blanket, hand in a bag of chips, watching the movie that was playing. “They forced you to stay too huh?”

“Yes.” 

She dropped heavily into the couch, arms folded across her chest. “She’s my girlfriend and all they’ve done since we’ve got here was distance us and hang out with her.”

“I mean, she is better than you.” Kody looked at her, betrayal on her face, earning a chuckle from Tika who threw a chip at her. “I’m only joking, you are my favorite person in this family. If I wasn't so unbearably heterosexual, I would be dating you.” 

“Well, I'm glad to hear that, I wouldn't accept any other answer.” Kody replies, “What are we watching?”

“The proposal” 

“The one with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds?”

“Hell yeah”

“I'm down. You got snacks?”

“What kind of freak would I be without snacks?”

Kody chuckles as Tika reveals the stash of goodies, “You think I’m some kind of amateur?” She fakes a hurt look, pulling out a bag of mini Kinder eggs. “Alexa! Get the lights!”

“You haven’t gotten to the good parts yet, awesome.” Kody rips open the bag, “This is definitely one of my favourite Betty White movies.”

“She does do a pretty great job.” 

“I’ve always loved the theme of this movie…” 

“Falling in love?” 

“No!” Kody tosses the rolled up tinfoil at her sister, “The whole… pretend to be fiances and then fall in love at the last second and panic to reveal their feelings.”

“Are you a secret sap?”

“No definitely not.” Tika raises a brow with a smirk, “Shut up, you have no proof.”

Tika lets out a laugh before resuming the movie and they both fall into a comfortable silence, laughing at stupid the stupid jokes, cringing at the second-hand embarrassment. Kody makes little side remarks, making Tika laugh hard. 

When the movie ends, they start a second one in. Sometime near the middle of the movie, Tika gasps, in pain or shock, Kody couldn’t be sure. “Kody…”

“Tika?”

“My… My water just broke.”

“Oh boy.”

“Oh boy? That’s all you have to say?! My water broke! We have no car to go to the Hospital! There is a snowstorm outside and you just say “Oh Boy”?”

Kody stands up, a smile on her face, “First things first, calm down and breathe. Focus on that, I’m going to go call 911, then Luci. When contractions happen, breathe and try to track the time between them, okay?”

Tika grunts but nods as Kody leaves the room to go to the kitchen and get her phone. She dials 911 one first, telling her that they’ll send an ambo but can’t promise the fast response as it is a snowstorm outside. She then calls her brother.

“What?!” 

“Tika is going into labor, the ambulance might have trouble getting here, so I may or may not be delivering your child here.”

“Oh fuck, oh fuck.”

“Luci calm the fuck down.”

“My fiance is having my child and I'm not there!”

“Whose fault is that.”

“Kody.”

“It’s fine, I got it under control.”

“Have you ever delivered a baby?”

“Yea, a few times.”

She hears Tika scream her name and she rushes goodbye to her brother, running to the closest to grab a bunch of towels before returning. “Okay! So, the ambo is going to take a bit to come, Luci is on his way, I think.”

“What are the towels for?”

“To put under you, you know ma will be upset if her carpet is ruined.” Kody jokes, placing the towels underneath Tika. “I might have to deliver the child myself.”

“Can you even do that?”

“Why does everyone doubt me? Yes, I've delivered multiple overseas, it's fine.”

“When you say it like that I doubt it.”

Kody rolls her eyes as she stands up. “I’m going to go get Darios emergency kit, Keep breathing!” 

Tika curses after her, making her chuckle to herself as she runs up the stairs into Darios room, tossing his stuff around until she finally finds his first aid bag tucked into the back of his closet. “Smart place to have it, idiot.”

Rushing down the stairs and back into the room, Tika is crying out in pain, gripping at the couch. “Breathe Tika, focus on that.”

“I’M TRYING!”

Kody smiles at her, opening the bag and grabbing a pair of surgical gloves. “I’m going to take off your pants now okay?”

Tika nods and weakenly lifts her hips off the couch as Kody pulls down her sweatpants and her underwear, tossing them aside. She positions her legs open. “I’m going to take a peak.” 

Tika screams.

“Holy hell it's coming fast.” 

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?”

“Your baby wants out.”

“KODY!”

“I’m sorry!” Kody laughs. “But I'm serious, it's coming faster than I’d thought it would… You can start pushing!” 

Tika does so without question, screaming and cursing. Kody can only calmly say she's doing great and to keep breathing. “WHERE’S LUCIANO!”

“He’s on his way Tika, you’re doing amazing, they're almost here!”

Tika screams louder and pushes once more, the baby's head pushes out, Tika pushes again and its shoulders come out, she slowly pulls the baby all the way out now, grabbing a cloth and wiping its face, it takes a second but the baby finally cries, Kody releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding. She stared down at her niece and smiles, its cries quieter and calmer now.

“Kody?” she hears Tika say her name, catching her breath, “Is everything okay?”

“Yea yea, it's all good.”

“Is it a girl?”

“No…” Tika drops her legs from the upright position as Kody sits up, baby in her arms. “It’s Digiorno.”

Tika lets a short laugh out of annoyance and reaches out. “Give me my child Kody.” 

“Just a sec.” Kody grabs a small roll of medical tape and wraps it around the umbilical cord before taking the small pair of scissors and cutting the cord. Kody carefully wiped off as much blood off the baby before wrapping her up in the soft blanket from the couch and stood up, carefully passing her to Tika. 

She watches as Tika smiles big, cooing at her child. “Hey there little girl, mommy’s got you.” 

The whole thing lasted maybe twenty minutes but felt like seconds. Kody just watches as Tika talks to her child, saying the cutest things. When heavy knocking comes at the door, snapping Kody out of her thoughts. 

She pulls off the bloody gloves and drops them to the floor by the towels and rushes to the door, opening them to two paramedics. “Hey!”

“Hello, heard there's a woman in labour?”

“Was.” Kody says, “There's a new baby there now.”

Kody leads the paramedic, followed by the gurney. “Tika, paramedics are here.”

Tika hums in response, eyes focused on her baby.

“You delivered?” The one paramedic asks, stepping around the bloody towels, looking down at the baby. “Impressive.” 

Kody shrugs. “I delivered quite a few when I was deployed, it was quicker than usual though.” 

The paramedic looks up, a smile on her lips as she clearly takes a longer look at Kody. “You served?”

“I did yeah,” Kody says, smirking at the woman, making her blush a bit and look back at the child. 

“Kody, any word on Luciano?”

She shakes her head. “I’ll let him know to meet us at the hospital, don’t worry.”

The second paramedic, who cleared the gurney, moved to stand next to Tika, while his partner took the baby into her arms to start a quick check-up. Weakly, Tika made it to the gurney and sat down. Watching the female paramedic intensely as she did her check-ups. 

“Baby seems good, full of life.” She says carefully placing the child back into Tika’s arms. “Let's get you to the hospital.” 

They pull a blanket over the top of her and then begin to wheel her out of the house, Kody quickly grabs her sweater from the hallway hanger and pulls it on, locking the door behind them and following them into the ambulance. The male paramedic closes the door as Kody sits down beside the female paramedic who smiles at her. “I'm Charlotte.”

“Oh uh, Kody.”

Tika gives her a look. 

“Crazy busy tonight?”

“Just a bit,” Charlotte says, Kody takes note of how green her eyes were, her blonde hair braided back. “Just a few house calls. This is probably the easiest one… I say that in the nicest way.” 

Kody chuckles at this. “I understand.”

The ride was quiet, aside from the cries from the baby, Kody watched with a small smile as Tika played with its fingers, whispering to it. Well aware that the female paramedic, Charlotte, is staring at her. 

When they arrive at the hospital, Kody is moved to the waiting room as Tika and her baby are brought back to be examined by the obstetrician. She sits silently, texting her brother the updates about the situation when Charlotte walks over to her and sits down. 

“So Kody, aside from being sexy, what do you do?”

Kody chuckles at this, blushing only slightly “I uh, work within the military.” A half-lie, “I help process new recruits and stuff. Nothing too special.” 

“I just can’t seem to get my eyes off you, there must be something wrong with them.”

Kody groans at the pick-up line. 

“She tends to have that effect.” Elena’s voice says from behind her, hand going to reach for her shoulder. “Hey, babe.”

Charlotte swallows deeply and recoils back her face flushing red. “I-I’m sorry.” 

“It’s all good,” Kody says.

Elena hums lightly as Luciano runs in from behind them, spotting Kody. “Where is she.”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know!”

“They took her somewhere.”

“Kody.”

“What?”

Luciano huffs loudly as Charlotte stands up awkwardly, “I can take you to her.”

Kody watches as Charlotte leads her brother away, Elena taking her seat. “Good for her, getting confidence to hit on you.”

“Right?”

“She’ll find someone.”

Kody hums as she meets Elena for a kiss. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too babe.” Elena interlocks her fingers with Kody. “Just a typical day for you, delivering babies and such.”

“You know it.” Kody jokes. “Is everyone else on their way?”

“They’re finishing up at the restaurant then they shall join us.”

“You didn’t want to stay.”

“Only a little bit,” Elena says, kissing her hand. “I just missed you.”

“Big sap.”

Elena rolls her eyes and kisses Kody again. “God I love you.”

Kody yawns and leans her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. Elena shakes her head as her girlfriend slowly falls asleep. She notices the Paramedic walking back into the waiting area, awkwardly walking towards them. “Hi um, i just came to tell you that when you are ready, you can go see your friend, room 307.”

“Thank you.” Elena smiles. 

Charlotte awkwardly nods before turning and walking out of the waiting area. 

“What a nice girl.” She says to herself, turning to look at her dozing girlfriend, a smile forming on her lips as Kody’s head drops onto her shoulder. “What am I going to do with you.”

~~~

Elena woke the next day alone in bed, though not to silence as she heard the soft sounds of a piano and guitar coming together in harmony. She reluctantly rolled out of bed and followed the music, as she got closer she could hear singing. Kody singing. 

She pushes open the door to find Kody playing the piano, as her brother Moore plays the guitar.  Kody singing Lewis Capaldi’s ‘Someone you loved’, her voice perfectly fitting the flow of music. Her eyes were closed, lost in the moment. Elena felt like she was melting listening to her girl singing. 

When the song was meeting its end, Elena moved to wrap her arms around Kody’s neck, kissing her cheek. “I didn’t know you were such a good singer.” 

“Only for you.”

“I’d love to hear more.” 

Moore strums his guitar, trying to ignore the flirting, a slight smile on his lips, “you guys are adorable.” 

“I know,” Kody says, a cocky grin. She turns slightly to wrap around Elena’s waist. “How’d you sleep?”

She shrugs, resting her head against Kody’s. “Good, I suppose, sucked not waking up next to you.”

Kody hums in response, as Moore stands up and places the guitar on its stand. “No more jam session?” 

“Nah, I’m going to go join mom in the kitchen.” He says, scratching his head, “I’ll see you downstairs.”

When Moore leaves the room, Kody fully turns on the seat and Elena moves to sit on her lap, looking up at her girlfriend. “Hi.” 

“Well howdy.”

Elena just stares at her, lost inside the blue of her eyes, fingers tracing her lips, feeling her smooth skin under her fingertips. Kody’s hands move down her back before resting on her ass. She can hear Kody softly begin singing something. Eventually, Elena’s lips find her girlfriend’s neck, pecking it with kisses before gently sucking at her neck. She could feel her lover moan at the sensation. Kody’s hands tread up Elena’s shirt, rubbing her back. 

Elena finally meets Kody for a heavy kiss, she pulls away slightly, teasing her girl as Kody tries to follow it. A chuckle escapes her before she reunites the kiss, crushing her body against Kody, who falls back and presses some keys on the piano. Kody’s hands find their way back to Elena’s ass and she stands up. The smaller woman's legs wrap around Kody’s waist, one hand at the back of her girlfriend's head, the other on her chin. 

Kody walks forward a bit before slowly kneeling to the ground, lowering Elena onto the ground carefully before returning her weight on top of the smaller woman. They lay there for what feels like hours, just kissing before Kody finally sits up and pulls off her shirt. She stares down at Elena, who just lovingly looks up at her. She rolls her eyes and removes her girlfriend's shirt herself, hands immediately find her breasts, making Elena snicker and pull Kody down for another kiss. 

After a few minutes, Kody’s hands dip under the shorts that her girlfriend was wearing and meet Elena’s heat, taking no time to push two fingers inside, smirking when she immediately bucks. “Needy today?”

“Kody…”

She melts into the moan that her girl lets out as she slowly begins to move her hand inside her, taking up a nice pace. Elena scratches at Kody’s back, wanting her to go faster so Kody obliges, her lips meeting the gape of her girlfriend's neck, leaving soft kisses and whispering soft words into her ear as she hits an orgasm, bucking against Kody’s hand.

Kody continues to kiss her neck as Elena slowly comes back down to earth, one hand on her inner thigh, the other on her neck. The smaller woman hands getting tangled in her hand, moaning at each kiss left on her neck. 

After a few more minutes, Kody stares down at the smaller woman, a cocky smirk forming on her lips as she pushes a strand of hair from Elena's face. “Are you satisfied?”

“I’ll never be satisfied…” Elena huffs but smiles softly, “But for the time being, yes. Now get off me, I’m going to shower.”

Kody grunts and stands up, pulling the smaller woman to her feet, kissing her once more on the lips, lingering there.

“I could spend every day like this…”

“I could too… but your family wouldn’t like how loud I make you.” She pushes past her blushing girlfriend and leaves the room quickly. 

Kody chuckles to herself as she fixes her hair, pulling it back into a messy bun then fixes her shirt a bit before stepping out into the hall towards the kitchen.

“You making cookies, mamma?” 

Marina hums in response as she continues to roll the cookie dough into small balls and place them on the baking tray. “You sleep well?”

“I did, yeah.” She admits, “I guess delivering a baby takes a lot of energy than I remember.”

“You don’t sleep much in the first place.” 

“It's hard too.”

“Elena knows of this?”

“I'm sure she suspects.” Kody admits, leaning against the counter, folding her hand together, “Unless she brings it up, it's nothing to be concerned about.”

“So much like your father, you don’t even realize it.”

“I suppose so.” 

Her mother reaches across the table and takes her hand, squeezing it firmly. “You are amazing, Kodiak.”

She grimaces at the name, pulling back from the counter. “Where is everyone anyway?”

“The ladies took the kids to chuck e cheese, while your brothers went and did their own things.” Marina answers, “Think they went to see Luciano and the baby.”

“Any word on the name?”

“Daniela.” 

Kody lets a smile slip. “I love that name.”

“It is quite beautiful.” Marina agrees, returning her focus to her baking, singing along to music from radio. 

“I think I'm going to ask Elena to marry me.”

Marina stops in her tracks and looks over to her daughter, thinking of what to say. “Are you sure? I know the thought of marriage brings memories of Jade…”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” Kody responds immediately, “Jade was… she was amazing and I loved her and I know she would want me to move on. And… Elena, I know she's it. She is the love of my life and I want the whole damn thing with her. The kids, the fights, the growing old, everything.”

Marina turns away from Kody and walks towards the pantry, opening it and disappears. A few seconds return and she holds something in hand, motioning for her daughter to take.

“Momma..”

Marina holds her up, silencing Kody. “You needn’t say anything else. I know your feelings are true. Unlike Jade, you’ve actually brought her here to meet everyone before you asked her to your wife. Me and your father love Elena, we already see her as a daughter.”

“I love you, mom.” 

“Yes yes, now go take that box there to the storage room.”

Kody chuckles at her mother’s response as she picks up the box from the ground and makes her way to the basement, accidentally kicking something over when she does enter the room. “Oh for fucks sakes…”

She carefully places the box on top of the desk and turns on the light in the room, trying to find what she knocked over when she did she froze, crouching down and she picked up the items. 

A bear that was carved out of wood that she had received from her best friend back in high school. Her fingers traced the softwood, from the head to the back, her name etched on the stomach. 

A picture of herself and her best friend.

A picture that she thought she got rid of. She sits down on the floor and looks at the items that fell from the box. Everything from her past laid out in front of her, it was like a slap to the face. A slap for every memory that she’s forgotten. As she continues to stare at the picture she loses herself in thought.

~~~~~~~

_ The leaves and sticks crunched under Kody’s footsteps as she walked up the pathway to the cottage, slowly following behind her friend. He turned and looked back at her, a big grin on his face as he yelled for her to catch up. She rolls her eyes and gives him the middle finger, it only makes his grin bigger before he turns his attention back to his girlfriend who hugs his waist, laughing at something that their friends have said.  _

_ The late November air sent shivers down her spine, making her cross her arms across her chest as she stepped up the deck of the cottage. The music was so loud that she could practically feel it vibrating the deck.  _

_ “Kody!” Laura sings songs, pulling away from her boyfriend and hugs her. “I’m so glad you came!” _

_ Kody smiles softly, only responding with a shrug, She feels him put his hand on her shoulder, turning her towards him. She looks him in the eyes, his honey-brown eyes staring through her soul. She puts a hand on his chest, slightly giving him a push. “Dakota.” _

_ He smiles at her, his shaggy black hair falling over his eyes. “Don’t worry about the girl. She doesn’t deserve you. Relax tonight, have a beer. Hook up with someone, be yourself.”  _

_ “I’ll try,” Kody says, eyes glancing over the people on the deck, they clearly want to continue their conversation with him. “I’ll catch up with you Dakota.”  _

__

_ She silently excuses herself from the group, knowing damn well that they play nice with her because of her friendship with Dakota. She doesn’t mind the stares and the comments they make from afar. She wanders into the cottage, shuffling past people to get to the kitchen. She recognizes some people, giving a wave when they call her name. She takes a beer from the cooler and slinks away from the crowd again, finding a somewhat empty room in the huge cottage and taking a seat by the window, Opening the beer and pocketing the cap. She sat silently, watching the lake and the birds that landed on the water. The boats that pass by. Letting herself get lost in thought and in the moment. Kody doesn’t know how much time passes but somewhere along in the night she seems to fall asleep, only waking when she begins to hear screams and the smell of smoke. She tries to take a breath but begins coughing, falling to the ground as she tries to stand up.  _

_ It takes her a couple of seconds before she gains the strength to stand up, hands grabbing at anything, The smoke is heavy and hurts her eyes. She manages to find the door to the room, tripping once more over what she thinks is a garbage can. She grunts, looking up seeing people rush for the doors, pure panic. She stands up once more moving towards the door with the crowd, but her entire body hurts and she’s so tired so she's not fast. Someone bumps into her hard and she falls hard, making the air leave her. People run past, some step on her by mistake, Kody tries to stand up for the third time but she’s just so tired and her lungs are beginning to burn and she's getting more tired. She can feel herself panic. She doesn't want to go this way. Not alone.  _

_ There’s a loud crack from above, she tries to turn and look but it happened so fast, a part of the beam from the roof drops and falls onto her leg, making her unable to move. She can tell her body is trying to cry but the heat is evaporating them before they even form properly. She looks back at the door, the crowd finally disappearing as everyone makes out. She can’t help but call out.  _

_ “Da...Dakota.” It was a whisper, weak and hoarse, with her final strength in her body, she called out once more, voice full of fear, “DAKOTA!!” _

_ She coughs and closes her eyes, maybe it’s just a bad dream, she’ll wake up to mom opening the blinds, singing her songs, annoying me to wake up. She’ll hang out with Achiello and Moore and everything will be okay. So she lets the darkest take her and she feels so relaxed and warm…. _

…… A Few moments before.

  
  


_ Dakota was hanging out with his friends on the balcony, laughing about and cracking jokes like a usual Saturday night. He couldn’t recall how long it's been since the last saw his best friend Kody. He instantly felt a tinge of regret, he had invited her, no forced her to come out and be social tonight and he only spent a minute talking to her before turning his full attention to his girlfriend Laura. A couple of hours passed and he still didn’t go to look for Kody and he hated himself for it. The moment that sound popped off he should’ve gone looking for her immediately.  _

_ The sound, what he expected was an explosion, set the cottage ablaze almost immediately. Dakota watched from a distance as the crowd of his peers came rushing out of the building, screaming and panicking. “Where’s Kody?”  _

_ “What?” he heard Laura ask. _

_ “Kody, where is she?”  _

_ Laura turned and started to trace the crowds, trying to find her, “I can’t see her!” _

_ “KODY!” Dakota shouted, his voice booming over everyone, “KODY WHERE ARE YOU?” _

_ “I think I saw her fall inside… everything happened so fast dude” His friend said to him and Dakota turned and looked back at the cottage.  _

_ Something deep inside him pulled at his heart. She was inside. He started to walk forward but his girlfriend grabbed at his arm. “I have to Laura… she’s my best friend. I have too.” Laura let him go and watched him sprint up the stairs and into the deck, holding her breath.  _

_ The second Dakota stepped into the fire he felt himself start to lose energy. With a grunt, he pushed forward through the smoke, eyes wincing at the feel. “KODY?!”  _

_ He caught sight of something no, someone, lying completely still. A heavy wooden beam trapping their leg. “KODY!” His scream is more desperate, more scared than ever before. Jumping through fire to get to her. He tried to shake her awake but it was worthless. “Kody please.”  _

_ He tried to pull her from the beam but it locked her leg in good. “Fuck!” He tried to kick it but nothing. He tried to catch his breath but couldn't find any air. He could feel his lungs burn. If he was smart he would leave her, let the firefighters save her but seeing her lying there, it killed him on the inside. He refused to give up.  _

_ Dakota took a bit of his sweater into his mouth as he moved towards the beam and placed his hands on it, screaming and biting into the sweater as he picked up the beam and dropped it off of Kody. His hands screaming in pain as he picked Kody up in his arms and started back towards the door. His sight started to blur. He wasn’t going to make it. He looked back down to Kody and found a burst of adrenaline and pushed once more into the open fresh air. He was about to collapse but was caught by two firefighters.  _

_ “Are you okay?” _

_ “I’m fine!” Dakota shouted weakly shoving Kody into the female firefighter's arms. “Help her! She was in there longer!”  _

_ The woman took Kody into her arms and raced down the steps to the ambulance. The  _

_ The second firefighter helped him walk down the steps and back towards the ambulance. Laura screamed and ran towards him. “Baby!”  _

_ “I’m fine!” He shouts, trying to get a look over at Kody. “She’s my best fucking friend! Please!” _

_ The paramedics looked up at him. The blonde gave him a nod while the smaller Latino girl was pumping air into Kody.  _

_ Dakota took a step back, his hands on his head. “She’s my best fucking friend!”  _

_ Laura watched as her boyfriend started to cry, watching as he dropped to his knees. She noticed too late that he grabbed his sweater in such a manner. _

_ Dakota sucked in a breath of air, holding his sweater, tears in his eyes. “Kody…” He fell over and landed on the ground, starting over at his best friend who twitched on the gurney as the Paramedics worked on her.  _

_ “Dakota!!”  _

_ He heard his girlfriend cry out but he couldn’t bear to take his eyes off Kody as he took one final breath and closed his eyes for the last time. _

_ At the same time, Kody opened her own eyes, panic surging through herself as she felt something inside shatter, fighting the two paramedics as they tried to hold her down. She finally pushed hard enough and saw her best friend on the ground as his girlfriend screamed. The blonde paramedic was quick to run over, her hands checking for a pulse. “He’s going to cardiac arrest!” _

_ The Latino girl left Kody’s side and ran over to them holding a defibrillator. She watched as they pulled off his sweater and put the paddles on his chest. “Charging 250!” _

_ They pulled back. “Clear!” _

_ “Nothing, charging 300!”  _

_ “Clear!” _

_ The sound of everything cut out from there, sending Kody into a whirling world of pain as she fell back onto the gurney, staring off into the lights from the ambulance.  _

_ “Shay! She’s crashing!” She heard someone call out followed by a string of crushes.  _

_ “ETA On nearest ambo?!”  _

_ “ETA five minutes.” A radio crackled.  _

_ “We don’t got five minutes!” Kody saw the blonde appear back over her, saying something but Kody drowned it out, looking back over at her best friend.  _

_ “Dakota….” She whispers softly before falling into darkness. _

  
  


~~~~~

A hand on her shoulder brought her attention back to reality, turning to look at the person, she smiled. “Elena.”

“You okay?”

“No, not really.” She stands up, picking up the bear and the picture, and turns to Elena, and hands them to her before crouching back down to place the items on the floor carefully back into the overturned box. “But I’ll manage.” 

“Kody.”

“Elena…” Kody starts, her hands tracing back over the box. “Do you wanna go somewhere with me?”

“Sure.”

Kody takes the items back from Elena and follows her back upstairs, going to her room and placing the items on the shelf. Changing into a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt and returns downstairs. “Okay, I'm ready.”

Elena nods and hands Kody her coat, which she slipped on quick and grabbed the keys from the pocket. “I’m sure Moore won’t mind us borrowing his car.” 

Elena merely shrugs and wraps her scarf around her neck then opens the front door and steps out, Kody follows after her, locking the door behind her as they walk to Moore’s car. They sit in a comfortable silence as Kody drove, clearly lost inside her head so Elena lets it be, watching the road. 

Half an hour later Kody pulled into a lot that Elena thought seemed was private property but held her breath as the car parked and Kody took out the keys. Elena watched as she stepped out from the car and paused, just staring at everything. Like she was returning to a place she never thought she’d see again. Elena soon followed her out from the car, moving to reach her on the other side and taking her hand. “You okay?”

Kody nods and squeezes her hand, she behinds walking towards what looks like a burial site but Elena trusts her and keeps pace with her. They walk for a minute before they stop in front of a grave. Elena’s eyes glanced over the name and looked back at Kody. “Baby…”

“This is the first time I’ve visited since my first tour overseas.” Kody's voice was a whisper but Elena could tell that it was tearing herself up inside. “I got so caught up in my own life and the people around me that I just… I forgot about him.” The way she spits out the last bit makes it clear to Elena that Kody is hating herself. So she just hugs her, as tight as she could, letting her get everything out. She can feel her starting to shake a little, “I can’t believe I forgot about him. He was like… no, he was my brother.”

“Forgetting him doesn’t make you a bad person.” 

Kody turns and looks at the person who said that and moved to rub her eyes. “Laura…”

“Hey Kodiak, it’s good to see you again.” The blonde woman moved to meet Kody in a hug, lasting a bit longer than Elena would’ve liked but she said nothing and stood back, looking at the gravestone. “Something inside told me to visit today. Perhaps it was him, get me to see you again.”

“You sound just like him.” Kody chuckles sadly. “You look good Laura.” 

She shrugs lightly and looks over to Elena. “Are you going to introduce us or just stand there being awkward?” 

“Probably the latter,” Elena says, making her girlfriend grimace. “I’m Elena, her girlfriend.”

“Oh?” Laura smiles before looking at Kody raising a brow. “As Day would say, you bagged a good one.” Kody laughs and shakes her head, covering her face with her hands. “I’m Laura, I was Dakota’s girlfriend back then. So I guess I was Kodiak’s friend by default.”

“Hey.”

“I’m only kidding Kodiak.” 

“I… I don’t go by that anymore.” 

“No?” 

“It just hurt at the time, so I changed it to Kody and it stuck.” She says looking at the grave. “I wanted to distance myself from him… I blamed myself for so long.”

“You would’ve done the same thing,” Laura says with a small smile. “That’s what made your guy’s friendship something to be admired.” She looked over to Elena, “You’ve probably noticed what her flaw is, right?”

“Flaw?” The couple said at the same time, making Laura laugh.

“Yes, your possible fatal flaw.”

“What is it then?”

“You’re Loyal.”

Kody stares at her, confused at the reveal, she sees Elena nod to it. “How is that a flaw?”

“You’re too Loyal Kodiak,” Laura says, Looking directly at her. “Too loyal to your friends. You can’t give them up, not for anything.”

“It may be a weakness, yes,” Elena says, looking at Kody and smiling. “But for Kody, it’s her strength. They’re countless times where her loyalty saved me and our team.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Laura agrees, “I don’t think that it would get anyone hurt. Only her. But that's… that's not continue about that.”

The three stand in silence for a few moments. Just staring at the grave, the wind blowing gently at their backs.

“It’s been a few years since I visited Dakota, I’m sorry.” Laura begins softly. “But I’m married now. His name is Dave. I have a daughter with him, Laila. She’s amazing. I can tell she's going to be a handful when she’s older, hopefully, she can find someone like you to tame her a bit if she’s anything like me.” She sighs softly and turns to Kody, taking a hand in her own. “You should visit the family, they miss you.”

“I’ll stop by before we leave.” 

“Okay.” She says, stepping back, “I have a kid to get back too but you guys have a good holiday. It was amazing to see you again Kody.”

“Goodbye, Laura.”

Kody whispers and closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

_ The cold November air sent chills up Kody’s back as she stood still, staring at the freshly buried grave. Everyone had already left and parted ways but her. She couldn’t will herself to move. She could feel the tears welling up in hers but they couldn’t break the surface. Her body began to shake, whether it was from sadness or anger she couldn’t tell. _

_ “It wasn’t your fault.”  _

_ Kody snickered at the voice who came up behind her, “Of course it was. I shouldn’t have gone to that stupid party.” _

_ “You went to that party because he invited you. He wanted you there.” _

_ “I still shouldn’t have gone. I went and now he's gone. He’s dead because of me.” Kody lets out, a half yell. “And it’s all my fault.” _

_ “Kodiak… it is not your fault. He made his decision.” Laura steps up beside, turning her to look her in the eyes. “Dakota had an undiagnosed heart condition, nobody knew.” _

_ “Laura, how can you look at me and not be mad at me.” Kody started to raise her voice. “Just be angry. Yell at me, punch me, just don’t lie to my face!” _

_ “I can’t do that Kodiak.” Laura says softly, “The minute I started dating Dakota I knew that in some cases I’d come second to you and I accepted that.” _

_ “Laura…”  _

_ “Dakota lives on with all of us. Mostly in you though, so carry him with you everywhere you go. He lives on with you.” Laura touches her hand to Kody’s chest. “I’ll miss him for the rest of my life but I will never blame you.” _

_ Laura pulls Kody into a tight hug, and they stand there for minutes as Kody finally lets herself cry after weeks of holding it in and forcing away the emotion. Laura held her there, softly whispering words into her ears, holding her tight against each wave of sobs and shakes.  _

_ “I’ll be here for you Kodiak. We have to be there for each other.”  _

_ That was the last time they really talked about anything outside of school, they never kept contact even after school and Kody often wonders what would’ve happened if they kept in touch. _

When Kody came back from the thoughts in her head, it had begun to snow lightly. In any occasion, it would've been pretty romantic, but as Kody released the breath she was holding and looked at Elena. 

“Would you mind if we stopped by his parents?” She asks shyly. “I think they’d love to meet you.”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” 

~

  
  


Staring up at the house in front of her gave her a funny warm feeling in the bit of her stomach. Kody couldn’t find the courage to take a step forward, she could feel her girlfriend staring at her. She held her hand, squeezing it tightly to let her know she was fine. 

“When I first met him… It was the first time I have ever been at ease around boys.” Kody finally broke the silence. “I was only eight but I know right away that he was going to be a big part of my life. He eventually said that souls are intertwined and that we’d always find each other in our lives.”

“He was big on reincarnation.”

“Absolutely.”

They stood there for a couple more seconds before footsteps came up behind them, making the two of them turn a bit faster than an average person. The woman standing behind them held her hands out as if she was surrendering. “Haven’t seen you in a long while Wihakayda.”

“Miakoda”

“Hello, Kodiak.” The woman smiled warmly and met Kody for a hug. “Are you here for my parents?”

“Yea… I don’t really know why though.”

“You know my mother will be able to tell you that.” Miakoda takes her hand, “Come inside, bring your wife too.”

“Shes-”

“Thank you.” Elena cuts her off, following behind as Miakoda leads them up the stairs of the house and inside. She gave her girlfriend a shrug when she had looked back at her. 

When they stepped inside Kody was met by the familiar scent of coconuts and vanilla, making her a smile just a bit as she slipped off her boots and zipped off her coat. Falling right back into an old habit and took Elena’s jacket and hung them up on the way. She watched as Miakoda disappeared down the hall, calling out her mother’s name. Kody took a few steps after her before stopping to look back at Elena. “You’re going to love her.” 

“Kodiak Ammerati!” The familiar voice called out, making her grin as she saw the woman she saw as her second mother steps into the dim light from the kitchen. “Where have you been?

“Mrs. Hudson.” She let herself get pulled into a hug, laughing a bit at how much she missed the embrace. When she pulled back she looked her deep in the eyes. “You still look like you’re twenty-one.”

She rolls her eyes at the comment and pushes past Kody to get a look at Elena, who stood awkwardly in the background. “And who is this beautiful woman here?” 

“I’m Elena.”

“Elena” Mrs. Hudson repeats, “Light.”

“I - I’m sorry?”

“Your name means Light” She elaborates, “It adds up well. As you are Kodiak’s light in a dark tunnel.”

“Mom.”

“Hush Mia.” The older woman says, taking a better look at Elena. “You are quite stunning. How did Kodiak manage to get the courage to ask you out?”

Elena chuckles when she notices her girlfriend turn red. “Let’s just say I did most of the talking when there was talking.”

Mrs. Hudson looked back over to Kody with a grin. “I like this one.” 

“Yea, she’s pretty great.”

“Why don’t you go see  biyanga? He’s down in the basement, he’ll want to see you.” Kody nods, giving Elena a look. “You okay if I go for a sec?”

“Of course she is!” Mrs. Hudson says, shooing Kody away, turning back to Elena, “Come now.”

Elena follows behind the woman as she is led down the hall. Her eyes glancing over the pictures on the walls, seeing a familiar face in most. “Kodiak was quite the cute kid when she was younger, wasn’t she?” Elena turned to look at Miakoda, “My little sister had the biggest crush on her, hell she probably still does.”

“Should I be worried about her trying to steal my woman?”

Miakoda chuckles at her response. “No. Liora stands no chance against you. Kodiak is too deep in love with you to even glance away from you.”

Elena blushes a little, turning away to walk into the kitchen. Mrs. Hudson motions her to sit down so she does, resting her hands on the table as the woman begins to pour tea. “When Kody was younger, she came to me and asked what it meant when she looked at girls longer than usual. Even as a young girl Kodiak knew who she was, what she wanted. A bit scared on how to proceed with life but she was comfortable. Quite an odd thing for a girl of seven.” 

Mrs. Hudson poured Elena a cup of tea, then began to sip her own. 

“You must have been close.”

“Oh yes. She was always over when she was young.” Mrs. Hudson began, “Kodiak and Dakota were very close, attached at the hip. I truly believe that they were twins in their past lives. So alike in every way but yet, so different. She was like my own daughter.” 

Elena sipped her tea and took mental notes of the older woman. She could tell that Kody being here is bringing up memories. She’s not sad or upset but merely with fondness. Her thick dark hair was pulled into a tight braid over her shoulder that reminded her of Eliza. “I can tell that Kodiak has finally begun to heal from the accident. Perhaps even stopped blaming herself.”

“I truly believe so.” Elena agrees, staring at the woman with wonder. “Miakoda said earlier that you would know why Kody was guided here?”

“Ah yes. The spirits.”

“The spirits?”

“Kodiak’s soul is intertwined with the native’s fates. When she returned home they called out for her and she fought it but eventually followed here. Dakota wants her to heal and she finally came to the root of her pain.”

“Root of her pain?”

“She feels like we blame her, that we are disappointed in her, so she avoided us after the funeral, and disappeared into thin air.” Mrs. Hudson shrugs lightly, “People grieve in their own ways and you have to let them.”

Elena stared down at her tea, realizing that there is still so much more she doesn’t know about Kody. 

~~~ 

When she stepped into the familiar room, she wasn’t sure what she expected. But her second father sat at his desk, doing whatever he usually did back then, lost in his work. It made Kody smile a bit. She took a step forward, trying not to startle him. 

“It is good to see you again young one.”

“Hello, biyanga.”

“You finally return home to the pack.” He says, finally looking up from the desk, a soft smile across his aging face. “How was your journey?”

Kody steps into the room, nervously crossing it to stand in front of the desk. “It was long and painful, but I feel my journey is not over yet.”

“It is not indeed.” The older man motioned her to sit, and she did so with ease, watching as the older man closed his notebook. “Your wandering soul has returned home to make peace with itself. I can only assume that it is because you are in love.”

“Love?” Kody asked surprisingly, “I mean, I am in love, yes but I don’t see how it has anything to do with my soul.” 

“Dakota used to say the same thing until he met that Laura.” He stands up and walks towards the bookshelf, sliding his notebook into its spot. “She still comes around, shares her life with us, A good mother she is.” 

“She does have her life together.”

The older man hums in response, fixing the collar on his shirt. “The spirits have told me about your upcoming arrival and the pain in your heart. You relived the memory again didn’t you?”

“Yes. It was more clear this time.”

“These things often do when you’ve come to accept things.” He returns to his seat, staring at her. “Your father talks about you all the time, about what you are doing.”

“He speaks too much.” 

“He worries so much about you and I don’t wonder why, you’ve changed.”

“How so?” 

“When you were nineteen, you were distant and you hated the world, you had a soft face with scared eyes.” He begins, meeting eye contact with her. “But now, your face is hard and your eyes are soft. You’ve been dragged through hell, kicked down multiple times and yet, you stand up and you continue to fight, you care. You never give up.” 

“I guess I have changed a bit, yes.” 

“A bit? You are an entirely new person, Kodiak. And that’s not a bad thing, you’ve grown. Dakota would be proud of you, and he would be ecstatic about your life choices.” He stands up, stepping around the desk moving in front of her. “Kodiak, I love you.”

Kody feels tears well up in her eyes as she quickly stands up and hugs the man tightly and he returns it. They stay like that for a minute and when they part Kody feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off her shoulders. “I love you too.”

~~~   
  


The next day Kody and Elena get stuck taking care of Moore’s children, she suspects that there is a plan in place but she doesn’t question it as she safely secured the kids into their car seats. Elena staring at her from the rearview mirror, a tiny smile on her lips, making her grin like a kid herself as she sits in the passenger seat. “Lets rock and roll.” 

They arrive at the Walmart a few minutes later and both Hope and Allen cling to Elena’s arm’s like koala bears, looking back at her girlfriend, a silent plea for help which Kody looks away, grinning. The kids dragged Elena towards the back of the store, Kody followed behind smiling to herself as she let herself daydream about having kids herself. It bubbled in her chest and made her feel warm inside. She eventually lost track of the kids and her girlfriend and ended up standing awkwardly in the middle of the store. Standing alone in Walmart always made Kody feel weird, she picked up an item off the shelf and faked interest at the item before carefully placing it back down and sighed. Where was Elena? 

“Kody?”

She turns around and looks for the voice, so familiar, so warm and yet her brain knows it's a voice she never wanted to hear again. Her eyes finally find the person it belongs to and swallows hard.

“Julia.” 

“It's so good to see you! It’s been like ten years?”

Kody shrugs, “Just about that long yeah.” 

She took a good look at her ex, she was even more beautiful than Kody remembered, her ginger hair still long and pulled into a braid, her makeup, on point as usual. Kody could tell she had matured over the years and it made her stomach jump, thinking about everything that had happened in the past. 

“You look good Julia.”

“Thank you!” She says, a slight blush to her face. “You look amazing as well. Working out with your brothers?”

“Something like that.” Kody agrees, scratching her neck. “You ever become a veterinarian?”

“I did yea! I work down in Toronto.” She says smiling, the same smile that killed Kody over and over again back then. “What about you? You a hotshot?”

“I would say yes, my co-workers though, they wouldn’t agree.”

“Where do you work?”

“I-” she stops herself from spoiling her life. “I'm a… sorta the swat… over in London.” 

“London.”

“England.”

“Wow, really?”

Kody nods and smiles. “It's nice being away from here.”

“I bet. I love England.” Kody has to stop herself from rolling her eyes, so she forces herself to smile and agree. “So Kody, you think… you think we can go grab a coffee, or maybe dinner?” 

Kody holds her breath, biting her lip, not sure how to respond until she saw Elena come towards her from behind Julia, holding hands with your two nieces and all doubt disappeared from the back of her head. “No.”

“No... ?” Julia sounded hurt, genuinely hurt. “Why not? Are you still upset about-”

“No, I'm not.” Kody cuts her off, and motions behind her. “You see that woman with the two toddlers dragging her along?”

She turns to look and nods.

“That is my girlfriend, Hopefully, my Fiance in a few days,” Kody says. “She is my entire world. And not once has she destroyed me on the inside as you did. It took me almost a year and a half before I could figure out how to even think about you without it ripping my heart out.” 

“Kody…”

“I’m not mad about what happened. I don’t even think about it anymore.” Kody says stepping forward a bit “Despite all of our fights back then… I, Thank you for one of the happiest years of my life. Goodbye Julia.”

She walks past her, taking no time to pick up her pace and meet Elena with both Hope and Allen, both carrying big lego sets. Kody smiles big and leans in to give her girlfriend a kiss before looking at her nephew and niece. “Am I spoiling you before Christmas?!” Both kids chuckle and shake the boxes of lego, making herself laugh. “Don’t tell your dad, he’ll be upset!”

Kody doesn't look back once, finally freeing herself from that pain from years ago. She wraps her arm around Elena’s waist and kisses her cheek. “I think you made a good call, forcing me to come home for Christmas.”

“You think so?”

“I know so, Let's finish up and take these youngsters out to party.”

“Let's not get too crazy now, I'm still recovering from last night,” Elena whispers, making Kody blush at the memory. “You better be ready when I come for revenge.” It stuns Kody a bit, and she can hear the smaller woman chuckle a bit as they enter the checkout line. “You are so easy to tease my love.”

“With you, everything’s easy.”

“Sap.”

~~~

  
  


Kody couldn’t sleep. 

Whether it was because Christmas was today or if it was because she was planning to propose to Elena, she wasn’t sure. She sat on the window seat staring out into the city, watching the lights as they flash by. The snow falling had calmed her nerves a bit, she always liked snow. Something about the way it landed on the ground in a calm matter, softly becoming one with the rest. Looking so perfect and beautiful when left untouched. 

She turned and looked over at Elena, who was still asleep, tugging at the blanket. It made her smile. Kody hoped that Elena would accept her proposal, she wasn’t sure what she would do if she said no. 

The silence of the house makes her feel on edge as the base usually has some kind of hum or people wandering the halls at night failing to be quiet would act as a sort of white noise for her, letting her fall asleep with ease. 

She opened the ring box once again and looked at the engagement ring once again, her stomach flipping once again when she replayed in her head how she’s going to ask the question. She was nervous and she was hardly ever nervous. She closes the box and walks over to her desk, safely storing it inside the drawer before crawling into bed beside Elena and pulling her towards herself, wrapping the smaller woman in her arms and holding her. 

When she opens her eyes again, it's too Elena softly kissing her neck, leaving small hickeys at her collarbone. “Good morning Baby.”

Kody hums softly and smiles at her girlfriend. “Hi.”

“Your family wanted to wake up by jumping on top of you and screaming, but I told them I'd wake you up.”

“I’m glad you did, I prefer this much more.” 

Elena smiles, the light from the sun shining perfectly against her skin, making all her features shine. 

“I love you.”

“I love you to babe, now.” Elena rolls off of Kody and stands up and stretching, her shirt rising to expose her stomach. She catches her staring and smirks. “Like what you see?”

“Damn right.”

“Shame we have to go downstairs.”

“Who said we have too?” Kody says moving across the bed to sit on the edge, her hands softly going to her stomach. “We can just stay here.”

Elena takes her girlfriend's head in her hands, tipping her chin up to lean down and kiss her lips. “I’m not going to fuck you when you're family is all downstairs.” Kody lets out a small moan as Elena pulls away, she turns and looks back at her. “I’ll give you a little motivation, how about that?” 

Elena takes off her shirt, exposing her breasts which makes Kody blush and look down at her feet. “Motivation? That’s only going to make me want you more.”

“Oops.” Elena teases as she pulls a sports bra from the closet and slips it on before returning the shirt back on. “I’ll see you downstairs.”

“I suppose.”

As Elena is about to step out from the bedroom, she turns around and looks at her girl, “You better not pleasure yourself or you’ll get punished.” With a wink, she closes the door behind her. Kody covers her face with her hands and falls back against the bed and moans.

Eventually, she gets up and gets dressed, pulling her phone off from the charger and checking her messages from her team. The group chat full of people saying Merry Christmas in their own languages, sending pictures of they’re grumpy faces and it made her smile. She looks over the non-group texts and her smile grows. 

**Aliboo** : Merry Spegetmass, hope is good and hope she says yes or I'm bringing the knife! 

They're a picture of her standing in the kitchen, wearing just a bra and shorts holding a knife, while Tina stands behind her, a look of disappointment. It makes her snort.

The next text is from Meghan, who sends a selfie of her still in bed, Avery cuddled on top of her, still passed out. _ “Have a good Christmas, tell that to your family. Good luck xx’ _

And the final text comes from her newish friend and coworker, Karhu.

**Tol Bean** : Hey, you have good Christmas, and cause you wouldn’t shut up about your fucking plans, good luck on your proposal, Elena will be an idiot for saying yes but Good luck.

Kody chuckles lightly and responds with a selfie of her flipping her off. Tucking the phone into her pocket, she grabs the box from the back of the drawer and puts that in her pocket as well. 

She makes her way downstairs to the living room, the kids already running around and screaming with excitement from their new toys, she laughs at her brother who has stickers all over his face and her grins. 

She drops onto the couch next to Elena, who leans into her side, resting her head on her chest. She zones out most of the morning, just looking at Elena and repeating the question she was going to ask over and over again in her head. 

She spent an hour playing around with her nephews and nieces before Elena takes her hand and tugs her to her feet. “Babe, what's up?”

“I just, I've waited for this trip for a while and looked for a perfect time and I couldn't find one at all.”

“Elena.”

“Shut up. But I’ve just realized that there isn't a more perfect time than right now, in front of your family where you are the happiest.” 

“No”

Elena drops to a knee, and Kody just shakes her head and looks at Luciano, who is already filming on his phone, trying to suppress his smile. 

“Kody, you came into my life like a meteorite. You hit me with some cheesy pick-up lines at a bar, but caught me with your smile and when we discovered a few days later that we’d be working together, you never missed an opportunity to flirt with me and say something goofy to make me smile when our idiot coworkers bust their gadgets. You quickly became the most important thing in my life and I don't want to lose you, I want you forever. So Kody, will you marry me?”

Kody’s face was bright red as she turned and looked at her family, who all sat in anticipation as Kody sighed loudly and dramatically, pulling out her own ring. “You took my plan but yes, I’ll fucking marry you.”

Elena stands up, a giant grin on her face as she kisses Kody. The family cheers, kids squealing with delight at the sound of their parent's cheers. Kody hugs her girl tightly, tears in her eyes. “I love you so much Elena Alveraz.”

“Elena Ammerati-Alvarez.” She corrected, as she slipped the engagement ring onto Kody’s hand, admiring the way it looked on her hand. “I like that better.”

“The name or the ring on my finger?”

“Both. Now give me mine.” Kody held the ring box up, as Elena went to grab it, she reached up higher. “Kody!”

“Say please.”

“Please let me have my fucking ring.”

Kody thinks for a second before shrugging, kissing Elena once more before letting her open the box and see the ring. “Kody this is fucking beautiful.” 

“Not as beautiful as you though.” 

“Shut up.” 

They kissed once more before they received hugs from the family. 

Kody held her phone up in the air, showing Elena in the background looking at her ring, a smirk on her lips. She snaps the picture quickly and sends it to the group chats merely saying, “It’s happening.”

She pockets her phone and moves to the couch, pulling Elena down to sit on her lap. “Hey there, how are you doing?”

“Better now,” Elena says, kissing her again. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

~~

The next week and a half flew by in a haze and Kody were already wishing they could stay. She hugged her Mom and her Dad tightly said goodbye to her sisters-in-law and brothers before getting into the car. Enzio started the engine of the car and began the drive back to the airport. Kody’s hand interlocked with Elena’s, they smiled dreamingly at each other, saying nothing at all but at the same time saying everything. 

When they arrived at the parting gate, Enzio hugged Elena tightly before turning to Kody to do the same thing. “I love both of you guys so much.”

“I love you to Enzio.” Elena smiles, patting his cheek with her hand, “You take care, you giant.”

Kody smiles at her brother as he chuckles at the name “Okay short stocks, You have a safe flight, make sure to call when you land and get home, okay?” 

“Yes, brother.”

“See ya later polpetta.”

He waves them off and they disappear into the crowd, hands clasped tightly, rings flashing to the world. 

The flight back home to England was a long and boring one, Elena was the only thing keeping her sane as she entertained the both of them by playing on new switch lite that Kody had bought her for Christmas. Elena somehow being god-tier at smash bros, continually kicked her butt. She couldn’t wait for her to play against the others. 

The ride home from the airport was long and tiring, Kody fell asleep in the passenger seat as Elena drove all the way back to base, when she woke they arrived at Hereford, they lugged their bags inside and were immediately bombarded by their friends, moving to catch a glance at the rings. 

Aria jumps up and down with delight as Kody tells the story of their engagement, everyone spewing their congratulations. When the crowd settles and returns to whatever it was that they were doing. 

On her way to her room, she walks past the gym and sees Karhu lifting weights. She wanders in and watches for a moment. “Wow Eryka, you’re strong and buff, wanna make out?”

She hears the taller woman let out a laugh and sets the weights down, turning to look at Kody. “It's good to see you again, short stuff, I hate to admit that I've missed your annoyance.”

Kody half skips half hops over to her and gives her a hug. Karhu sighs and lets it happen, softly patting her back. “I've missed you too Ery. It was so boring without being bullied every minute of every day.”

Karhu rolls her eyes at the comment and begins to walk out of the gym, Kody falling in step beside her. “How’s Jai?”

“She’s alright, busy with nighthaven, like usual,” Karhu says, picking up the smaller woman's suitcase. “I can see by the bling on your finger that Elena said yes.”

“She sure did.” Kody grins, stretching out her arms, “You’re going to be my best man right?”

“No.”

“So you’re going to have to plan a kick-ass bachelor party.” Kody says, “It's a lot of pressure so I understand if you get stressed out.” 

Karhu drops the bag at Kody’s door and turns to her. “I’m glad you’re back Kody. I’ll see you around.” 

Kody waves goodbye then opens the door and enters her room, sliding the bag into the corner before dropping down on the bed and laying down. She scrolls through her phone, quickly sending a message to her brothers that she made it home in one piece before falling fast asleep, perfectly content with everything in her life. 

She was getting married to the most beautiful woman in the world and the weight of the world off her shoulders. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!! Pls leave a like or a comment if you want! Follow me on Incorrectvalk.tumblr.com and ask me questions and stuff


End file.
